Omigod!  It is like spotting the robins romping in the snow.  We can see a few glimmerings of hope in this economy. Mainstream media will miss them or ignore them, but they are there.

One is that one of the car companies reports pickup sales are pickin’ up.  It has re-hired a bunch of workers to churn up production to meet the growing demand.

Another glimmering is that housing figures have begun to improve.  Especially the sales of existing houses.

Meanwhile, retail sales moved up one percent last month.  Barely anyone expected this.  This is the first increase in seven months.  Sales of all sorts of merchandise increased.  Sales of cars increased.

Another hopeful sign came with unemployment data.  The number of people signing up for unemployment went down.  Also a surprise.

Don’t dig out the party hats. Happy days are not here again. Nor is Spring, for you robin watchers. Not yet.  We know unemployment figures will probably get worse, for instance.  So many big companies have been laying off.

I don’t know about you.  But in spite of another 3 feet of snow and zero temperatures I still welcome the sight of the robins.

Why are we seeing these glimmerings?  After all, our economy is on the express train to Armageddon.  Or so some politicians tell us.  The banks are busted.  The car companies are nearly kaput.  Housing company execs spend their workdays playing cards.  How can we possibly be seeing a few hopeful signs?